U.S. President Donald Trump recently vetoed a covert Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to two senior U.S. officials who spoke with Reuters under condition of anonymity.
The reported plan, which was being developed by Israeli intelligence in the past few weeks, aimed to eliminate the aging cleric who has led Iran since 1989. According to the officials, Israel sought a green light from Washington, given the potential for massive geopolitical fallout. The proposal was said to have reached the highest levels of the Trump administration.
But in a rare intervention, Trump, who was previously known for his hardline stance on Iran—including the 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani—rejected the operation, citing concerns that it could trigger a region-wide war and deeply complicate U.S. efforts to contain tensions in the Gulf.
“This was a red line,” one official told Reuters. “Trump believed killing Khamenei would set the region on fire.”
It’s unclear when precisely the Israeli plan was put forward, but sources suggest it was considered “recently” and possibly in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency. The veto underscores both the fragility of Middle East security and the weight that such covert decisions carry on a global scale.
There has been no official comment yet from the Israeli government or from Trump’s spokesperson. Iranian officials have also not responded to the report.
This development, if confirmed, would mark one of the most explosive behind-the-scenes decisions in recent U.S.-Israel relations and could add fuel to debates around assassination as a tool of foreign policy.
